We are grateful to Professor Bernard Aikema, for confirming the attribution after examining the painting in the original. We are also grateful to Dottoressa Annalisa Scarpa for independently endorsing the attribution on the basis of a photograph.

The present painting is an impressive and characteristic work from Giovanni Battista Pittoni\’\’\’\’s early period. The protagonists are rendered as half-length figures within a narrow space and, due to their sharp outlines, vigorously stand out against the chiaroscuro. The artist has created an illusion of depth through the table in the left foreground and the arrangement of the figures behind it. A drawing in the Museo Correr in Venice (see ill.) demonstrates the formal genesis of the composition. However, due to the oval format of the drawing, it is uncertain whether it really served as a preliminary design for the present painting, although it must be closely related to it (see F. Zava Boccazzi, Pittoni, Venice, 1979, cat. no. D.45, p. 213, fig. 30).

An almost identical variant of the present painting, which differs only very slightly (in the present composition, an additional chunk of bread appears on the table) was formerly in the Richard Buckle Collection, London (see Boccazzi, ibid., 1979 cat. no. 253). Zava Boccazzi dates the former London painting to around 1720. Another version of the subject in which the protagonists are depicted as full-length figures is in the Hermitage in St. Petersburg (see F. Zava Boccazzi, ibid., cat, no. 75). This painting still reveals references to 17th-century painting and an influence from Francesco Pittoni, the artist\’\’\’\’s uncle and teacher.

Stylistically, the present painting is related to the Sacrifice of Isaac in the church of San Francesco della Vigna in Venice (see F. Zava Boccazzi, ibid., cat. no. 204). The pictorial invention relies on a copper engraving by Francesco Berardi (see F. Zava Boccazzi, ibid., cat. no. I.11) in which the relationship between the figures of Isaac and Jacob is very similar. On the other hand, Rebecca\’\’\’\’s face seems older in the present picture and clearly shows more realistic features. The figure of the blessing, bearded Isaac anticipates Pittoni\’\’\’\’s two pictures of Saint Jerome (Florence, ex Cecconi Collection; Rimini, Museo Civico).

Together with Giambattista Tiepolo and Piazzetta, Pittoni was an important history painter of the Venetian Rococo. Besides altarpieces for Venetian and other churches, and also devotional images for private clients on both sides of the Alps, he painted subjects from mythology and classical literature in a Rococo idiom all his own, with a light and broken style of brushwork. Pittoni was also held in particular esteem outside Italy, especially in Dresden and Cologne, but also in Poland, Bohemia, and Spain. Pittoni was successful in his lifetime and was respected by his fellow Venetian painters, who elected him to important offices in their professional association, the Collegio dei Pittori. In 1729 he was elected prior of the Collegio and was one of the founder-members of the Venetian Accademia; he became its second president in 1763, succeeding Tiepolo. His influence in Central Europe was remarkable. Here his style was transmitted by his student Anton Kern, who had returned to his native Bohemia in 1735.Another version of the painting similar to the Buckle version is in Vienna, Museum im Schottenstift (oil on canvas, 77 x 102 cm).additional picture:

(Brescia, 1760), p. 180). The present painting had also been known from a drawing by Pittoni showing the female figure with the dove to the lower left of the composition, which is now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice. Both the Milan painting and the present work were copied by Anton Kern in a format which extended the composition vertically (Narodowe Museum, Warsaw, cat. S. 19 and S. 20; op. cit. figs. 179 and 180).

As well as having previously explained the purpose of Pittoni's preparatory drawing which is now in Venice, Kern's copy confirms a date of Pittoni's originals to before 1730, when the Austrian artist left Pittoni's workshop and moved back to his native Austria, thus shedding valuable light on the artist's early

oeuvre

, which had reached a compositional and stylistic peak as early as the late 1720s.

ProvenanceNotes: This painting is the only known depiction of the subject by Pittoni. As pointed out by Franca Zava Boccazzi (op. cit.), this is typical of Pittoni's mature style, and would have been executed for private devotion, rather than as a highly finished preparatory work for a large altarpiece. The freshness of the brushstrokes, as well as the inventive spatial arrangement of the figures, gives the picture a liveliness and greater sense of spontaneity than is usual in the large church commissions.Pre-lot Text: PROPERTY FROM THE LOYD COLLECTION (LOTS 39, 60, 204 AND 216)Provenance: John Inglis, Lord Glencorse (1810-1891), Lord Justice-General of Scotland (according to a label on the reverse 'Lord President Inglis'). R.H. Bamberger, by whom sold to the followingwith Thomas Agnew and Sons, London, from whom bought by C.L. Loyd, 5 April 1961.Literature: F. Zava Boccazzi, Pittoni. L'opera completa, Venice, 1979, p. 131, no. 71, fig. 479.The Loyd Collection of Pictures and Drawings at Betterton House, Lockinge near Wantage, Berkshire, London, 1967, p. 36, no. 54; revised edition 1991, p. 23, no. 54, illustrated.

Lot NotesThe present work, a popular subject for Pittoni, depicts a scenefrom the life of the Old Testament warrior Jephthah, who led theIsraelites to victory over the Ammonites with the help of thefollowing pact with God (Book of Judges 11: 30-40): 'If you deliverthe Ammonites into my hands, then whatever comes out of the door ofmy house to meet me on my safe return from the Ammonites shall bethe Lord's and shall be offered by me as a burnt offering'. Uponhis return to Mizpah, Jephthah's daughter and only childinstinctively rushed out to greet her father 'with timbrel anddance'. Pittoni depicts the ill-fated daughter as a paragon ofvirtue kneeling before her father and high priest at a sacrificialaltar in noble resignation to her destiny: 'Father, you haveuttered a vow to the Lord; do to me as you have vowed, seeing thatthe Lord has vindicated you against your enemies, theAmmonites'.Pittoni was one of the most successful history painters of theVenetian Rococo, a status that was confirmed by his role as secondpresident of the Venetian Academy following Giambattista Tiepolo'spermanent move to Spain in 1763. Pittoni first crossed the Alps in1720 on a trip to France with his friend and fellow artist, RosalbaCarriera. His reputation as a skilled painter soon spreadthroughout the courts of Europe, and by 1722 he waswell-represented in the celebrated picture gallery ofFrederick-Augustus I, Elector of Saxony. In 1735 the King of Spaininvited Pittoni to execute a cycle illustrating the life ofAlexander the Great. And in 1743 he was singled out byFrederick-Augustus II as one of the five most accomplished Venetianmasters in the Dresden collection of 'modern paintings'. Apart froma solid career as a decorative history painter, Pittoni served asan influential art consultant, advising, among others, MarshalMatthias von der Schulenberg, who owned nine works by theartist.According to Zava Boccazzi, the present work is the modello for apainting commissioned in 1732-3 for the King of Savoy and now inthe Palazzo Reale, Genoa (Zava Boccazzi, op. cit., no. 63). TheGenoa picture has since been significantly cut down on two sides,thus rendering the present work the best extant illustration of theartist's original concetto. Two autograph replicas of the modelloare in England, one in a private collection (ibid., no. 68) and theother in Southampton Art Gallery, Hampshire (ibid., no. 184).The present picture's luxuriant colors and decorative toneexemplify Pittoni's mature style, a decisive break begun in the1730s from his early training in the dramatic Baroque idiom of hisuncle, Francesco Pittoni. In 1996 Christie's sold a contemporarywork of a similar subject by the artist, The Sacrifice of Polyxenaat the Tomb of Achilles (Christie's, New York, 12 January 1996, lot140, $244,500; fig. 1).

Giovanni Battista Cimaroli (Salo 1687-after 1753 Venice)A capriccio view of Venice, with the church of Santa Maria Gloriosadei Frari, and the Fabbriche Vecchie of Rialto beyondoil on canvas27 x 32½ in. (68.5 x 82.5 cm.)Lot NotesWe are grateful to Professor Dario Succi for confirming theattribution to Cimaroli on the basis of a color transparency(written communication, 15 November 2004). In addition, ProfessorSucci notes that, in this 'raro capriccio', Cimaroli imitates theearly works of Canaletto in using red and brown pigments and strongchiaroscuro. He dates it to between 1725 and 1730.